The Justice Department is looking into the Jan. 5 blowout of a portion of the fuselage of a Boeing 737 Max jetliner operated by Alaska Airlines, according to two people briefed on the matter.
Washington
Justice Dept. opens criminal probe of mid-flight blowout on 737 Max plane
Boeing declined to comment. A Justice Department spokesman also declined to comment. Alaska Airlines said in a statement Saturday that it was cooperating with the investigation.
“In an event like this, it’s normal for the DOJ to be conducting an investigation,” Alaska Airlines said. “We are fully cooperating and do not believe we are a target of the investigation.”
Spirit AeroSystems, a Boeing supplier that initially installed a panel that came off the jet in midair, said it has received requests for information from “multiple government agencies” and was cooperating with ongoing investigations.
The inquiry comes as an audit by the Federal Aviation Administration identified multiple instances where Boeing failed to comply with quality control requirements in its manufacturing process, an unwelcome reminder of safety problems that led to a 20-month grounding of the fleet following two fatal crashes involving 737 Max 8 jetliners in 2018 and 2019.
The Justice Department is investigating whether any factors that contributed to the Jan. 5 incident violated the terms of an earlier agreement with Boeing to resolve any criminal liability for the two crashes involving 737 Max jets, according to a person familiar with the probe.
Boeing reached that deal with the Justice Department in 2021 over employees’ concealment of a critical safety flaw implicated in crashes that killed 346 people in Ethiopia and Indonesia. Boeing agreed to pay more than $2.5 billion in penalties and admitted that two of its technical pilots deceived federal safety regulators about a software system blamed for the accidents.
As part of the agreement, Boeing would avoid criminal prosecution if it met other conditions for a period of three years, including promptly reporting any evidence that its employees or agents committed fraud against any government agencies, regulators or its customers. The company also agreed to strengthen its compliance program and to enhance compliance program reporting requirements.
The deal, known as a deferred prosecution agreement, also required Boeing to fully cooperate with any investigation by the fraud section of the Justice Department’s criminal division, including turning over upon request any evidence or allegations of violations or any related internal or external investigations.
The Justice Department stopped short of requiring the appointment of an independent monitor to ensure Boeing’s compliance, however, saying it did not believe one was needed.
Paul G. Cassell, a lawyer representing some families of victims in the 2018 and 2019 crashes, said a series of issues at Boeing over the past year raise questions about whether it has complied with the terms of the agreement.
“It’s not just one door plug on one plane,” said Cassell, a professor at the University of Utah College of Law.
Whether the causes of the door plug incident constitute a violation that 2021 agreement or lead to the discovery of new alleged offenses, or some combination of the two, appears to be an open question. The Justice Department’s criminal division has until July 7 to decide whether to seek dismissal of the 2021 charges against Boeing, extend the probationary term by up to one year, or find the company in breach of the settlement. Such a finding could reactivate the prosecution.
Boeing is already the target of multiple investigations following the Jan. 5 blowout.
The FAA has stepped up oversight of its manufacturing and quality control processes. The agency also has taken the unusual step of limiting the number of aircraft the company can produce until it can be assured that Boeing has addressed the problems that contributed to the Alaska Airlines blowout.
FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker recently visited Seattle, a trip that included a tour of Boeing’s 737 production line. He also spoke with Boeing engineers and mechanics as well as FAA employees tasked with oversight of the company.
On Monday, the FAA said it had completed the audit and found multiple instances of Boeing and Spirit failing to adhere to quality control requirements. The agency said it has given Boeing 90 days to develop a plan to correct the problems.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary findings in the Jan. 5 incident, the door plug appeared intact when it left Spirit AeroSystems on Aug. 20. However, a photo shared by Boeing employees on Sept. 19 after it was removed for a repair shows three of four key bolts missing, with a fourth not visible in the picture.
Boeing said in a letter Friday to Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) that it has searched for documentation about the removal of the part but has not discovered any records.
“We likewise have shared with the NTSB what became our working hypothesis: that the documents required by our processes were not created when the door plug was opened,” the company wrote. “If that hypothesis is correct, there would be no documentation to produce.”
Beirut, Lebanon – On Tuesday, representatives from Lebanon and Israel met at the US Department of State in Washington, DC – the first session of a two-day round of negotiations that Lebanese negotiators hope will end an invasion of their country.
The negotiations, which started at 9am local time (13:00 GMT), come as Israel’s invasion of Lebanon pushes deeper than at any point since the year 2000 and as Hezbollah and Israel continue to trade attacks. Israel has killed 3,468 people in Lebanon since March 2, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health.
With the war raging on, what do Lebanon and Israel have to discuss and will the talks lead to an end of the Israeli assault?
Here’s everything you need to know.
What will Israel and Lebanon discuss?
Similar to past meetings, the two sides are ostensibly looking to come to some kind of deal following fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, with strong doubts it will be achieved.
Lebanon’s government is still pushing for a total ceasefire. However, as talks started, Israel was striking various parts of southern Lebanon. Lebanon is also trying to get Israel to withdraw from Lebanese territory in the south, so that more than 1.2 million displaced people can return home, and so the state can resume finding a way to disarm Hezbollah and rebuild areas devastated by Israeli attacks.
Israel is meanwhile looking to get assurances that Lebanon will disarm Hezbollah, a prospect analysts say Israel knows is complicated by the continuation of its military operations and occupation of swaths of southern Lebanon. Instead, Israel appears to be trying to fuel sectarian tensions inside Lebanon, leading to chaos and internal strife.
What has happened so far?
An initial meeting took place in April between Israel and Lebanon’s ambassadors to the United States. A second round took place in May with a larger delegation on both sides.
On Friday, a meeting took place with Lebanese and Israeli military representatives, while Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese group, is not involved in the meetings.
Israel claimed the two sides found common ground in that they both wanted to see Hezbollah disarmed. Some Israeli officials suggested there may soon be trade agreements and an exchange of tourists between the two countries. Lebanon, however, said it preferred to find a deal closer to the 1949 armistice agreement between the two countries.
In the last meeting, Beirut reportedly outlined the damage done by Israeli attacks since the 2024 ceasefire agreement and presented detailed maps showing homes destroyed or razed by Israel.
Is there a chance for a ceasefire?
That remains to be seen, but for now, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country’s military would continue attacking Lebanon.
On Monday, Netanyahu announced that attacks on Beirut’s southern suburbs would resume, despite a ceasefire. Apart from two targeted attacks, Israel has not struck the suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, since April.
Iran, which has attempted to include Lebanon in a wider ceasefire between themselves, on one side, and Israel and the US on the other, then intervened by threatening to attack northern Israel.
US President Donald Trump reportedly intervened to stop Israel’s attacks. He announced another ceasefire, after his previous announcement of one between Israel and Lebanon on April 16, after claiming he had gotten the approval of Netanyahu and spoken to Hezbollah.
“There will be no troops going to Beirut, and any troops that are on their way have already been turned back,” Trump announced on his social media platform, Truth Social.
But attacks from Israel and Hezbollah are continuing.
How do Lebanese people feel about the talks?
Not everyone is on the same page.
Some Lebanese support the talks and say they are the only option the state, which has little leverage, has. Among those who believe direct talks are the best way forward are Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.
“There is no option other than negotiation,” Aoun said in a statement on Tuesday.
Others, however, oppose direct talks. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and his allies, Hezbollah, have said indirect talks are preferred and that negotiations cannot be conducted while attacks are ongoing.
How are Iran and the US connected?
Israel and the US attacked Iran on February 28, killing the country’s longtime leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran is Hezbollah’s primary benefactor, and two days after Khamenei’s assassination, Hezbollah fired six rockets towards Israel on 2 March.
Hezbollah’s response brought a huge response from Israel, who have crossed the Litani River – the supposed buzzer zone in southern Lebanon it had created – towards the Zahrani River.
Despite a 2024 ceasefire, Israel had never stopped attacking Lebanon, while Hezbollah had only responded once in December 2024.
Iran has attempted to include Lebanon in the ceasefire deal it has with the United States and Israel, who say this theatre is not part of the agreement.
Although Trump has now announced a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel twice, the invasion of southern Lebanon continues.
Are there other actors involved?
Gulf states have also intervened. Saudi Arabia has been working behind the scenes to get Lebanon’s leadership – Aoun, Salam and Berri – on the same page. Meanwhile, analysts say Saudi Arabia and Qatar engaged the Trump administration to stop an escalation in Lebanon.
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02-07-35-44-57, Powerball: 25
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A contract worker was killed by a falling tree on Monday afternoon in Washington County, officials said.
The Washington County Office of the Coroner said in a news release that the contractor was killed after the tree fell on them around 4 p.m. The worker, who was not immediately identified, was hired to cut down a tree at a residence on Lynn Portal Road in Canton Township, and it fell in an unintended direction, killing the person, the coroner said.
No other information was immediately released on Monday evening. The Greene-Washington Regional Police Department and the coroner are investigating.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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